Epidermal keratinocytes express the adhesion molecule intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in inflammatory dermatoses.

Using indirect immunofluorescence assays on frozen tissue sections of skin from healthy subjects and subjects with inflammatory skin diseases, we found that intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) was expressed in a cell surface pattern on epidermal keratinocytes at the site of lymphoid infiltration in cutaneous dermatoses. ICAM-1 was not expressed on epidermal keratinocytes in noninflamed skin. Its expression was not related solely to epidermal hyperproliferation, as hyperproliferative, tape-stripped epidermis did not express ICAM-1. We have reported previously that ICAM-1 expression on epidermal keratinocytes was upregulated by treatment with interferon gamma and that activated T lymphocytes bound to cultured epidermal keratinocytes in vitro by lymphocyte function associated-1 (LFA-1) molecules on T cells and ICAM-1 on epidermal keratinocytes. Taken together, these data suggest that upregulation of expression of ICAM-1 is an important feature of cutaneous inflammation.